Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2)

Goethe's revolutionary 1795 novel invented the modern story of self-discovery. Before Wilhelm Meister, the novel had no archetype for the young person who abandons the safe path family and society prescribe to pursue their true calling. This is that story, and it remains the template against which all such journeys are measured. Wilhelm Meister, son of a prosperous merchant, rejects his father's expectations to follow the theater - that unstable, disreputable art form that demands everything of those who pursue it. He falls into love with the beautiful Mariana, navigates romantic entanglements that reveal the gap between passion and understanding, and begins to learn that the actor's craft requires a complete transformation of self. Around him, a cast of figures - the cunning servant Barbara, the mysterious travelers, the fellow actors - each offer different philosophies of life and art. Goethe asks what it means to truly develop as a person, and whether the self we discover is something we find or something we create.